European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 10, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 4 a a the stars and stripes Friday August 10,1990 urges Cut in by Chuck Vinci Washington Bureau Washington a the House armed services committee is calling for an immediate 25 percent cat in the proposed $1.3 billion used to pay foreigners working for the Pentagon overseas. In its strongest signal yet that allies should pay for More of the costs of . Bases overseas the committee also said Host governments should Bear All costs associated with foreign labor by 1995. A Host nations would then be faced with the Choice of paying More of the Cost of their workers or face the same reductions that . Defense civilians Are facing both in the United states and abroad a said the report on the committee s fiscal 199t defense authorization Bill. The Bill was passed july 31,there Are about 120,000 foreign National workers on the defense department payroll the vast majority of them in West Germany. In addition to foreign labor costs the committee tints Host governments to pay for All construction and maintenance on . Overseas bases by 1995, foreign labor and overseas construction and maintenance will Cost the United Stales $6.2 billion in fiscal 1990. The committee wants the Pentagon to begin modelling Host nation support on the current agreement Between the United states and Japan a where there has been encouraging movement toward a More equitable defense Cost snaring plan a the report said. Japan pays for virtually All construction on . Bases and has begun to pay the costs for All japanese labor on those bases. A much of the existing Burden sharing arrangements for Host nation contributions Are categorized As a wartime support and come into play in the event of a mobilization for a full scale Warsaw pact onslaught a the committee report said. A was that likelihood diminishes the arrangements should be adjusted and emphasis shifted toward providing More financial contributions to offset the Cost of maintaining the . Presence instead of mobilization support a it said. The Senate a defense authorization Bill approved aug. 4, does not address overseas base support costs. Once the full House approves its armed services committees Bill in september House and Senate lawmakers will meet to discuss differences in their two Bills and come up with a single version. On agent Orange effects Washington apr a House committee concluded thursday that White House officials during the Reagan administration a controlled and obstructed a Federal study of agent Orange exposure among Vietnam veterans. The congressional panel said a secret White House strategy to deny Federal Lia Mility in toxic exposure cases led to the cancellation of the centers for disease control study in 1987. The report by the House government operations committee bolsters arguments of two veterans groups the american legion and the Vietnam veterans of America. The groups filed a lawsuit last week seeking to have the cd resume its study on the health effects of agent Orange expo  Vietnam War. A the White House compromised the Independence of the cd and undermined the study by controlling crucial decisions and guiding the course of research a the report said. A at the same time it had secretly taken a Legal position to resist demands to compensate victims of agent Orange exposure and Industrial  agent Orange was a herbicide used to destroy ground cover during the Vietnam War. It has been blamed by veterans groups for 19 cancers and a variety of other tic Alth problems including birth defects. The report followed a 14-month investigation and series of hearings by the committee s human resources and intergovernmental relations subcommittee headed by rep. Ted Weiss . Congress ordered the cd study to determine whether Vietnam veterans had been exposed to agent Orange. It was to be used As a basis for other studies on health problems. The report said the White House ordered the study s cancellation after the cd said it was scientifically impossible to use military records to identify veterans who had been exposed. The committee said the study should not have been cancelled a because cd did not document that exposure could not be assessed and disregarded alternate methods of measuring exposure. Cd in Atlanta and the department of veterans affairs declined comment. The House panel concluded a the cd study was controlled and obstructed by the White House a primarily through the office of management Ana budget and 6 the agent Orange working group a White House task Force that was monitoring the study. The panel said that despite evidence Vietnam veterans Are More susceptible to certain forms of cancer and birth defects in their offspring the Federal government has consistently refused to acknowledge any link to agent Orange exposure. The a this year decided to award compensation for two rare cancers soft tissue Sarcoma and non i Long King a Lymphoma. The report said the study a cancellation also followed a decision by White House lawyers under the Reagan administration to oppose legislative and judicial attempts to compensate people exposed to agent Orange the committee said the cd diluted the original study by excluding certain veterans including All marines and other ground troops that served More than one tour of duty and did not use the Best records available. The report said the cd then tested participants blood Lor traces of dioxin the toxic element in agent Orange even though Independent scientists found that the chemical was not Likely to persist in the blood More than two decades after exposure. Back on the pad the space shuttle Columbia kit moves used a i dust the shuttle attune in p lift Oit Atlantis was later panel recommends extending Dod hiring freeze by Chuck Vinci  the free a is scheduled in end it sent aaa Hgt. Washington Bureau Washington a the Pentagon should do More to trim its 1.1 million member civilian work Force As it draws Down us Active duty forces Over the next Lew years the Houie armed services Ommittee say s. 1 lie report on the committee s fiscal 1991 detente authorization Bill recommends that the Pentagon maintain its selective civilian hiring freeze into the new fiscal year a until civilian end strength is reduced to appropriate lev Els a the freeze is scheduled to end sept. 30, when the fiscal year also ends. That would mean a reduction of about 65,000 civilians Over the next fiscal year almost 60,000 More than the Pentagon had planned for and a Cut of about $1.1 billion in the administration s request for operations and maintenance funds to support the civilian work Force i lie committee also recommended a Cut in Active duty strength of 129,500. With the ratio of civilian employees to military personnel now at i-to-2, lawmakers think a proportionate Cut of 65,000 is prudent. Civilian personnel represents 14 percent of Dod budget authority. If that spending account were Cut proportionately to Overall defense budget reductions the civilian payroll would drop by $3.7 billion next fiscal year the report said. The committee expressed concern Over the Pentagon s expanding civilian work Force which saw a 30 percent increase in management positions since 1980. Civilian personnel costs continue to Rise and the Pentagon has asked for Money to hire More foreign nationals next year at a time when imminent base closings should be reflected in a a diminished civilian personnel requirement Quot the report said. The hiring freeze put into effect in january by Welense Secretary Dick Cheney is expected to result in a reduction of 40,000 civilian employees during this fiscal year. Pentagon officials have estimated that tiie freeze would result in savings of $780 million next fiscal year but the congressional budget office put the savings at closer to $ i billion